Software Freedom Conservancy, Inc.

Conservancy acts on behalf of its projects to engage software developers o as independent contractors to improve the project's software.  Conservancy-funded developers generate thousands of lines of code, which is subsequently released freely to the public under copyright licenses which encourage the public to use, share, and modify the software.  Conservancy-funded contractors also work with their respective project communities to coordinate volunteer software developers to contribute even more code under similar licensing terms.
 
In addition, Conservancy facilitates and/or participates in programs where developers mentor student software developers during the summer.  Developers help their student mentees get involved in free, libree and open source software and contribute new code to their respective projects, with the code being released to the public under the terms described above.

Many of Conservancy's projects release their software under "copyleft" licenses, such as the GNU General Public License ("GPL").  "Copyleft" licenses are copyright licenses which allow everyone to freely share, copy, modify, and install modified versions of the software; but copyleft licenses additionally require that everyone who receives the software has an equal right to engage in those activities.
 
Some Conservancy projects have asked Conservancy to encourage compliance - and occasionally enforce - the terms of their copyleft license, in order to ensure that the public receives the access and benefit the projects intended.  Conservancy engages with companies who distribute our projects' software in a manner out of compliance with their copyleft licenses.  Conservancy requires these companies to provide the same rights to copy, share, modify, and install modified versions of the software to all who received these companies' distribution, just as these companies had initially received those rights.  Conservancy ensures that the general public has equal rights to use, improve, and study the software, and to experiment with their own modifications to the software.